Driving Way Too Much, New Fractures & Stolen Tailgates

I've had a busy driving day. First I drove to work over in Pyote, twenty three miles. Before leaving the house though, I dressed in lots of layers. First an under shirt, a sweater shirt and finally an over shirt. I wore tights covered by a pair of slacks. I then had gloves, a scarf and a wool coat. I dressed warmly for the occasion of below freezing weather made to feel even more below freezing due to the wind that kept whipping through the West Texas landscape.

You may wonder why I clothed myself so warmly if all I was doing was driving. Upon arriving at work, it's a good half a mile walk past the education building to the vocational buildings where us teachers now have taken residence in order to facilitate learning. Did you happen to notice that I said "past the education building"? On December the 14th, the education building at West Texas State School in Pyote experienced a power failure. A few lights, some outlets and phones were working, but there was absolutely no heat or computers.

The boys stayed on the dorms where there was electricity and of course heat. Us teachers stayed, sitting in the dark and the cold for several hours waiting for information regarding our dire situation. Being the brazen outspoken one that I am...I decided I was taking an early lunch across the railroad tracks at the Pyote Cafe and Grocery. Others decided to join me. At lunch we met up with TYC employees who informed us that the transformer had blown and another would need to be ordered, it could take a week before getting the problem fixed.

Long story shortened, the powers that be in Austin, you know, all those lovely representatives chosen by us voters, decided not to fix the problem, but instead have us the teachers move into the warehouses behind the education building. Do I need to tell you that I was not pleased? None of the moving occurred until after we returned from the holiday, so the rest of the week was spent in the partially lighted, extremely frigid building.

That explains why now I walked past the education building this morning after arriving to work. After working a few hours, I then drove to Iraan, one hundred seventeen miles, to meet with the superintendent to discuss worst case scenario in regards to my soon to be unemployment. Worst case scenario is that the school will close in March and to work out my contract and still receive a paycheck, then I and the other teachers would need to drive to Iraan everyday to work.

I then drove home to Wink, one hundred forty two miles thinking about the possibility of driving two hundred eighty four miles every day to collect a pay check. I'm really hoping the school stays open until the end of May, that would be super sweet.

A few updates and a public service announcement before I go. Seems that a former student of mine has been nabbed by the Odessa Police for stealing tailgates from pick up trucks. Apparently, there's a high demand for tailgates and now the police have suggested that those of us with these valuable tailgates should park our rears up against something so that the perps can't make off with our tails.


The comish told me at the gym tonight that County Road 201, the one leading to the predicted third sink hole has developed a few more fractures. He's picking me up tomorrow at 4:30PM and taking me out to get some pictures of the ever spreading problem.

Fracking Zombies!

The kids and I LOVE zombie movies. In fact, we're such big fans of the zombies that we've prepared for the ultimate zombie invasion which we are certain will take place in 2012. So, you can imagine how excited we are about the upcoming movie..."Frac Attack: Dawn of the Watershed".

The movie is about a bunch of residents who drink water contaminated by hydraulic fracturing. These residents then turn into ZOMBIES! It's a great way to get those who couldn't care less to show some interest in the subject.

Of course, there are some people who aren't happy about the new movie, such as Diffendorf, group leader of the Kirkwood landowners. She thinks the movie is just weird and full of misinformation. But I'm thinking showing the REAL effects of drinking hydraulic fracturing fluid would be too awful to see.

Jackie Root, a lease specialist gave a big thumbs down for the movie, stating that she thought Ithacans had too much time on their hands. You want to know what this lease specialist suggested we should frack the wells with instead of water? Milk. Yep, she calls it, "lacto-frack." Hey Jackie...how does using milk instead of water keep the ground water from being contaminated? I give your "lacto-frack" a BIG THUMBS DOWN.

Climate, A Child's Right Issue

Parents can be imprisoned for child abuse, couldn't it be said that polluting the air and water of children by big oil & gas the same as child abuse? Didn't Aruba knowingly sling toxic drilling mud all over the Ruggerios' yard? And doesn't their nine year old daughter play in that yard? Shouldn't Aruba then be charged with the knowing endangerment of a child? You think I'm kidding? I'm not the only one thinking along these lines.

Lord David Putnam, the Unicef UK Ambassador expresses his view in the Green Room, a weekly opinion piece in the BBC News.

" the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, Unicef UK is urgently pushing for the rights of the child along with those of future generations to be acknowledged in the UN climate change negotiations."

At the end of the article, people get to comment. I loved this comment:

"Lord David Puttnam's views are of no consequence. He hasn't a clue about the physics of climate. He, like the majority of GW'ers, is simply reiterating what a dozen or so fanatics have told him. This whole GW fiasco is a giant storm in a tiny teacup. Let's get some really unbiased scientists together and get a truly rational appraisal. The leader of this cadre should be Dr Bob Carter of Cook university in Austrailia."
Lenedwin, Seattle/ USA


Notice where the fellow who commented is from, yep...that's Seattle...now, I'm assuming Seattle, Washington. According to sources, Washington state is one of the "greenest" states in the union. This fellow doesn't live by compressors, oil & gas wells, strip mines, toxic waste dumps, open pits full of drilling waste, condensate tanks, sink holes...nope, this fellow probably lives in the cleanest little area of America there is. How unbiased is he? I bet he's an oil or gas executive. I've always wondered where the majority of them reside.

PeeWhew! Encana Stinks! Brace Yourselves Luzerne County!

The worst of the worst is coming to town, and I wish I were talking about Santa Clause, unfortunately, I'm not. Nope, the invader of homes and property I'm referring to is none other than Encana! These guys are notorious for scamming people, contaminating water, spreading smelly bad stuff, and endangering aquifers in the name of cleaning up!

I don't know about you, but if I were a resident of Luzerne County; the destination of Encana's next environmental disaster, I'd put up road blocks! Everyone in the county should be out with picket signs refusing to let those dirty rotten scroundrels in!

OH, you better watch out! You better cry loud! You better speak out! I'm telling you why...Because Big Bad Encana is coming...to your town!

Fall Fun Projects

Annie had her friend Katie B. spend the night and they did all sorts of things. After jumping on the trampoline and riding their bikes, they disassembled an old bicycle to use the wheels for some type of moving contraption. In the evening, when it became too dark to venture outside, the girls made an inside fort using blankets, pillows, chairs and books. When they finally passed out from exhaustion which happened to be around 11:30, I turned off the lights and headed to bed myself.

In the morning the girls enjoyed a breakfast of buckwheat pancakes and turkey bacon. They dressed and proceeded outside for some more Fall fun. They raked the leaves in the front yard and played around jumping and throwing the leaves up into the air and at each other.

Those are the things that children should be seeing on a fun Fall day. They shouldn't have to be having to see pollution created by Aruba Petroleum.

Did I Do That? Just Another Bad Sitcom

I was reading an article about Carlsbad, New Mexico about a new attraction that has appeared off U.S. 285. I'm familiar with U.S. 285 because that's the highway the kids and I take to visit the Caverns, The Living Desert and Roswell, New Mexico home of the Aliens. I love sight seeing and was thinking about hopping in the car this weekend and taking the kids for a little day trip. Well, imagine my surprise when I find out that the new attraction is an extremely unstable cavern caused by three decades of oil field drilling. Seems that "oil field service companies pumped fresh water into a salt layer more than 400 feet below the surface and extracted SEVERAL MILLION barrels of brine to help with drilling."

I don't know about you, but I always felt certain that if you have a cavern full of liquid and that liquid is helping it stay intact that once you remove most of the liquid, then sooner or later it will collapse. And guess what? I'm just an English teacher and I figured that one out.

Poor old New Mexico isn't unique, other communities in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Canada and Europe have become alerted to similar underground danger when cracks appeared and the ground began to sink. Seems like I remember seeing something like that just the other day. I don't know, with all the H2S in the air, my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

Oh, and you want to know the best part? Guess who has to pay for the stabilization of the man made cavern? I bet you're thinking the oil and gas companies responsible for this mess. Well, darlin' you'd be thinking wrong. Nope, state and federal funds have to be freed up for this undertaking, while big oil and gas drives away with the town of Carlsbad in their rear view mirror, snickering above the screams and explosions, "Did I do that?"

Touring The 2nd Wink Sink And Predicting The Next

On a pleasant Fall evening, prior to sunset I headed out to view the second Wink Sink hole. I'd not seen this hole up close and felt a bit of anticipation as the fence emerged in front of me. My tour guide explained that they've had to rebuild the enclosure several times due to the hole expanding and swallowing up previous fences. As he opened the gate, and we made our way into the area a chill began to filter into the air. I don't know if it were truly the air around me or perhaps the sensation of a chill as I walked to the edge of the sink hole.


There's been hem hawing about whether or not drilling causes sinks to develop. As I looked into the sink, my tour guide pointed out 3 injection wells that had to be capped. He said that some people think that when the water was injected, it eroded the salt dome in our area and that's what caused the sinking to begin.




All around the sink there are plenty of large fractures ranging from one to three feet in width and extending down past my ability to see. It was rather frightening at times to have to cross over one of those things. The one in the photograph is roughly 30 yards west of the sink hole. As you walked around, the ground was soft beneath your feet, completely uncharacteristic of West Texas soil.



A geologist from UTPB of Odessa has been doing studies and testing regarding the formation of the sink. He hasn't been able to do a lot of research stating there's not much money available to do so. He is taking water samples of local wells to determine any changes in the underground aquifer, I've offered mine up for testing.



We left the sink hole and then traveled along the county road, stopping at a mini power station. The power station had been relocated when the sink developed, but now concerns are being raised about the possibility of it needing to be relocated once again due to the ever spreading of the fractures and sink. This fracture shows up right next to the mini power station.



I followed the road out to the last known fracture and that distance was roughly eight tenths of a mile away from the sink hole. A little further to the west of where this picture was taken is where the third sink is predicted to develop. It was getting dark and my tour guide didn't feel it would be safe to continue, because "You never know what you might be walking on top of."

Not A Tough Decision

I've been thinking about something. There was a time when the thought of living near a state penitentiary scared the heck out of me. But now I'm thinking I'd rather live next to the Huntsville State Penitentiary than...












Live next to hydraulic fracturing...



oh, bother...I already live here. Damn.

Barnett Shale Report

I read the Emissions from Natural Gas Production in the Barnett Shale Area and Opportunities for Cost-Effective Improvements report by: Al Armendariz, Ph.D., Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Southern Methodist University. It was a whopping 45 pages long, but it was well worth the time I took to read.

Of course, a lot of the terminology I didn't understand, but the report made some comparisons to help out lay people like myself. The gist of what I read confirms that the oil and gas industry are polluting the air, soil and water of DISH. Here's an example of what I'm referring to:


"In addition, predicted 2009 emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane were approximately 33,000 tons per day of CO2 equivalent. This is roughly equivalent to the expected greenhouse gas impact from two 750 MW coal-fired power plants. The three anthropogenic greenhouse gases of greatest concern, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, are emitted from oil and gas sources in the Barnett Shale area."

I thought the reason we are doing away with coal and going natural gas was because it was a cleaner fuel. Did I miss something? I'm confused. These emissions are just from the DISH area...this isn't including all emissions from all over the United States. So, from what I understand, it's as if DISH has TWO coal-fired power plants.

"HAP emissions, which include toxic compounds such as formaldehyde and benzene, are expected to increase. These activities are significant sources of the ozone and fine particulate precursors, as well as very large sources of greenhouse gases, mostly from methane venting during well completions. Greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to be greater than 4000 CO2 equivalent tons per year. "

The reason the emissions are expected to increase is because of the plan to increase drilling. Well, didn't see that one coming did ya?

There are three basic types of pollutants wreaking havoc with DISH; compressor engines, well completions, and gas venting. What I like about this report is that not only does it point out that the pollution is being created by the oil and gas industry, but that pollution reducing options are available for these companies. I'm not so sure that these companies would be interested in self regulation, it'll probably take federal or state law to intervene.

"Unless companies bring special equipment to the well site to capture the natural gas and liquids that are produced during well completions, these gases will be vented to the atmosphere or flared."

You'd also think that probably these pollution reducing methods would be costly, but oddly enough...they're not. In fact, from what I've read, the methods would increase profit for the gas and oil industry! Well, hell's bells, darlin'! What are they waiting for?

"Estimates were made of the costs where switching from IC engines to electric motors for compression. With an IC engine capital cost factor of $750/hp in 2009 dollars, the cost of a 500 hp compressor engine would be approximately $370,000. With an electric motor cost factor of $700/kW, the cost of 500 hp of electrically-powered compression would be approximately $260,000."

Look at that, over $100,000 in savings!


"While flaring emissions from tanks in the Barnett Shale would provide substantial environmental benefits, especially in terms of VOC and methane emissions, capturing these hydrocarbons and directing them into the natural gas and condensate distribution systems would provide both an environmental benefit and a very large potential revenue stream to oil and gas producers."

Not only would the flaring benefit our environment, BUT it would also provide increased profit!

"Emissions of ozone and fine particle smog forming compounds (NOx and VOC) will be approximately 191 tons per day on an annual average basis in 2009...greater than the combined emissions from the major airports and on-road motor vehicles in the D-FW metropolitan area."

That's a lot of pollution! Very harmful stuff being released into the air, water and soil. The report offers suggestions for controlling and reducing emissions significantly and these methods are cost effective. You know, a few weeks ago I solved the health care crisis by creating a health bank that everyone pays into, instead of paying exorbitant insurance rates. Now, I think I've solved the employment crisis. The oil and gas industry can hire lots of people to use the "green completions" to capture methane and VOC compounds during well completions, phase in electric motors as an alternative to internal-combustion engines, install condensate tanks with vapor recovery units, and replace high-bleed pneumatic valves and fittings.

I'm thinking that big oil and gas should be leaders in the industry and set a good example by implementing these emission reducing methods, hiring and training of new employees, and cleaning up the environment.

A Little Cookie Goes A Long Way

This morning, Annie and I were reading my email and came across a wonderful article about Penns Woods. These beautiful forests of Pennsylvania have some pretty staunch supporters, they were able to forestall further development by the gas drilling industry.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is required to raise 60 million from drilling in state parks this year, but are no longer required to lease land to the drilling industry. This is a huge victory for those of us who want to see wildlife and natural habitats protected.

It seems that Representative Dave Levdansky (D-Allegheny) was the major contributor for leading the fight against the drilling companies, thus ensuring protection of Pennsylvania's forests.

Annie understood right away that tons of precious little animals, oxygen producing trees and plants, beautiful clean water had been saved and secured for the near future. She also understood the terminology of needing 60 million dollars. She and her friend Katie B. decided to help and baked chocolate chip cookies. The two girls decorated a little red wagon and went door to door selling home made cookies for 2 dollars a bag.

The girls raised a total of 28 dollars, but more than that they raised awareness...people asked questions.

Tag You're It...Pass It On

I read a very interesting article in the Denver Post. I'm wondering why it is that in Colorado, more than just average citizens are taking notice of the fracking process used by oil companies? After reading the article, I then read the comments and this one stuck out:

ILoveChipotle wrote:Oil companies do not frac the aquifers - they do not touch the ground water. The area that is touched by a frac is 8000 feet below the aquifer (that's about a mile & a half away).

Ms. Greenes ignorance & hatred for the industry is astounding.

You are the only one mentioning aquifers.

Are you saying that Coalbed Methane is never found near underground sources of drinking water?

I'm really confused. I'm gonna have to ask some of the smart people I know about the aquifers being touched by fracking. I was thinking that over in Midland, the groundwater has been contaminated, but I could be mistaken. Then I kept reading the comments and came across this one:

I oftentimes disagree with what a columnist writes. Very rarely am I shocked at their ignorance. The two or three articles written by Ms. Greene on fracking are shockingly ignorant. Certain rules, including the chemical disclosure rule that Susan believes to be at issue, were not, and are not, disputed by energy companies. The rules that industry is trying to overturn are those that have have made it nearly impossible to get new permits from the state (yes the state - state regulators - not "you and me").

Fracking is regulated by the state, very heavily so in fact. Anyone who understands even basic geology knows that it would be impossible for fluids from fracking to travel from 8000 feet below the surface to anywhere near water supplies. The important issue when it comes to fracking is the integrity of the cement and metal casing of the pipe. The state requires myriad tests to ensure that integrity, which is why federal regulations would be overly burdensome.

Now, I'm almost certain that there was some leak in some kind of equipment over in Louisiana of fracking fluids. I'm also remembering that some cows, about 16 or so, drank some of that leakage and died. Yeah, I'm pretty sure about that one.

Wondering When We Won't Worry About the Water

Sweltering summer day, twisting tumultuous trees, wistful unabashed daring toddlers lapping water carelessly from a Mississippi creek. This is a picture of Flint Creek where my Grandma Ann resides. Growing up us children never had to worry or even think twice about drinking the creek water. We were never told by our grandparents, parents, aunts or uncles to not get in the water, drink the water or play with the water. It never occurred to us that anything could ever be harmful in that water, because it never was.

I don't live in Mississippi anymore, I reside way out in West Texas in a little town by the name of Wink. The City of Wink posts notices at the post office and at city hall to boil the water before using. I won't allow my children to drink the tap water or have a swimming pool for fear of what might be in the water. Am I being overly protective? I think not. I recently read an article about the poisoning of Midland water...Midland is only 55 miles west of where I live. I don't know about you, but I'm thinking I need to contact a few of my state representatives and let them know how I feel. During W's presidency, Haliburton got an exemption from having to adhere to the Safe Water Drinking Act. This means that they go unchecked and unnoticed and are basically allowed to dump anything they want into our drinking water.

Just like last time, I found a handy dandy link that with just a few keystrokes, I was able to send an email letter to my state representatives. I also personalized mine a bit, because I like to write. :)

Defining My Priorities

We have one more day of TAKS testing, leaving the social studies test for tomorrow. A co teacher traded places with me, allowing for a day in the class room. I truly enjoy reading to the boys and hearing them read as we discuss issues and new words they have never heard of before. Words you and I take for granted, such as paranoia, fascist, and euphoria.

Deciding on what to teach, which words they should know rocks my boat at times. Thousands of words come to mind, hundreds of books on the shelves, and good books at that; create a mind swirling effect for me. I have the same problem on deciding on my priorities, picking the most important.

One way I found that aided in my defining my priorities was to first define me. How do I define myself? What do I want to be? I don't define myself through a corporate world. I don't define myself as the Wink goddess. I don't define myself as religious...so I know what I'm not, but what am I?

Defining oneself may sound old school, but the process can be truly eye opening. Here's me in a nutshell: family, nature & environment, security, fun and adventure. Very basic ideas that should get further defining, such as family, I'm referring to my son and daughter. Nature and environment, to me means doing my part to create a beautiful place in which I live, enjoying the wonderful world around me and protecting it for my children.

Recently, I've been giving the environment a bit of consideration, considering I live in oil country. In and around Wink there are pump jacks doing their thing. I guess I never gave it much thought until about three months ago, when I noticed that the usual oil and gas smell started smelling a bit different.

The smell that I'm smelling is similar to that of a chemical perm. You know, the one you get for your hair. A couple of years ago, I smelled this same smell on my way to work in Pecos. That's about the same time that Chesapeake moved in and began drilling 400 new wells. I don't know much about it, and I'm learning a little bit every day. I just found out about this new process they call fraking. AND from what I've read so far, it's bad...very bad. Like I said, I like to know about things before I actually say anything, because if not then something embarrassing happens, like thinking somebody likes you for more than a friend and then you say something stupid and well, you know.

What I found out about this Hydraulic Fracturing is that the oil companies use very toxic water. Well, there have been some cases where the water seeped out and killed livestock and could have possibly contaminated the local drinking water. I don't know about you, but that's a bit scary! The kids and I already don't drink the tap water, but we still have to bathe in it. I was trying to figure out something I could do to help out this problem. I don't have a lot of time, but I did find a very helpful link. I clicked on it and was able to send a little note to some people in Congress. It only took me a few minutes to fill out the form and then send it on line. No stamps, no printing, no writing...just a few keystrokes!

Now, before you think I'm some sandal wearing, tree huggin' hippie...think about this. We have proof just from the HUGE bailout, that Congress doesn't read everything they sign and put into action. Ponder on that for a moment. You never know what they've agreed to and neither do they.